American Women Short Story Writers: A Collection Of Critical Essays; Editor: Brown, Julie; Paperback

Editor: Brown, Julie
Wellesley Studies in Critical Theory, Literary History and Culture; Paperback; Bibliography
398 pages
Published: August 2000
Taylor & Francis Inc
ISBN: 0815335873

This collection of original and classic essays examines the contributions that female authors have made to the short story. The introductory chapter discusses why genre critics have ignoredworks by women and why feminist scholars have ignored the short-story genre. Subsequent chapters discuss early stories by such authors as Lydia Maria Child and Rose Terry Cooke. Other chapters are devoted to the influences (race, class, sexual orientation, education) that have shaped women's short fiction through the years. Women's special stylistic, formal, and thematic concerns are also discussed in this study. The final essay addresses the ways our contemporary creative-writing classes are stifling the voices of emerging young female authors. The collection includes an extensive five-part bThe essays in this collection examine the contributions made by female authors to the short story. An introduction discusses why works by women have been ignored, and the essays go on to examine the work of individual authors, influences that shape women's short fiction and stylistic concerns.